Creative techniques to strategically attract audiences.

“Self-Promotion” Shouldn’t Be Shameful

I mean, I know what it means… What I don’t understand is why it’s even used as frequently as it is.

This expression is normally used by people who are trying to make clear that they never promote anything, but they’re asking for permission to do it just this time.

So wait a minute… By default, promoting yourself is supposed to be full of shame?

I don’t think so!

First off… Everything you do is promote yourself in some manner or another. Through what you say, what you share, and the way you do it, you promote your views on issues, your reality, your values, your solutions, and your worldview. It is simply impossible to express yourself without promoting something in the grand marketplace of ideas.

Get over that fact, then move on to my next point.

If it’s true that you are always promoting, then if you feel shame about promoting these ideas, it just reflects a lack of confidence in what you are all about.

You can either improve the quality of what you have, or switch towards promoting something else you can be confident about. But you certainly do no favors to anyone by communicating with shame.

I have no issues with promoting my stuff, and I’m always doing so. Why? Because my stuff is amazing. I make an effort to consistently put out outstanding stuff.

There you go. Shoot me for it. Call me arrogant or delusional. I don’t really care.

Your opinion about me is a drop in the bucket of the hours upon hours I spend working on my books, my courses, my articles, my designs, everything I do to make sure that whatever I output is at the highest quality I can possibly produce.

While many others are spending time entertaining themselves (nothing wrong with entertainment, please don’t miss my point), I’m often cranking stuff out at 2am and beyond because what I accomplished during “business hours” wasn’t good enough. You might not notice the hours I invest in everything I do, but by all means, please ask my kids or my wife.

What I’m saying here is that I will not be ashamed nor be afraid of sounding arrogant because I work hard to make everything I do the best I possibly can, and to ensure it is actually valuable to others.

Which brings me to my next point: If you know someone in need, and you have the solution to help them, would you be ashamed to present them with it?

You might be ashamed only if you don’t really believe in your solution. If you think what you have only works subjectively and maybe only worked for you because of a fluke, then I guess it’s OK to be ashamed.

Not my case, though.

I promote my stuff all the time because I know it’s solid, and it solves problems many people in business are dealing with right now.

I know that the main reason for those problems is lack of information, so I make sure to give away as much as I can for free, while other valuable advice is given away for a ridiculous price (like my 99¢ book here… Which also includes an invitation to a free 1-hour training).

You can be sure I’ll promote the heck out of something that I fully stand behind as a solution that can absolutely help others. I won’t stay cross-armed denying myself the opportunity to help someone else.

On the other hand, many people are ashamed to promote what they have, probably because they’re afraid to be scrutinized. They’re unsure that if someone evaluates what they’re promoting it will resist examination.

This just shows that it didn’t first pass their own Quality Control process, or maybe their Quality Control process had very low standards. One of the two.

Again, not my case.

So let me summarize this by declaring “shameless self-promotion” as the new default. Never be ashamed of promoting valuable ideas, even if they’re yours.

Shamelessly promoting valuable ideas should be such a default, that the phrase “shameless self-promotion” should just turn into a meaningless phrase not worth using.

Alex Rodríguez develops high-end digital marketing campaigns that transform brands and attract business. He is the author of Digital BACON. His clientele has run the gamut from top-level advertising agencies and Fortune500 corporations, through national broadcast networks, to award-winning production firms. He heads up the team at YMMY Marketing. Connect with Alex via LinkedIn or Twitter